


Dwarven Tradition at Strumlotts

by allihearisradiogaga



Category: BomBARDed (Podcast)
Genre: Bardvent, Bardvent 2018, Found Family, Gen, Holidays, Traditions, Ugly Holiday Sweaters, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-06 13:01:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16833136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allihearisradiogaga/pseuds/allihearisradiogaga
Summary: bardvent day 3: holiday traditionsRaz'ul is feeling nostalgic about his childhood winter traditions, and Yashee and Randy know just what to do!





	Dwarven Tradition at Strumlotts

**Author's Note:**

> I know I'm not participating every day, but I was hit with inspiration and put this one together! I sort of lurk on the bomBARDed discord but I love all of the events they put on and love to be at least a small part of them!
> 
> I also played it fast and loose with dwarven holidays because who knows what goes on there but it's about the feeling of the holiday season, right?

Raz’ul looked down at his axe and sighed. It wasn’t often he got nostalgic, but when he did…

Behind him, Yashee was sifting through a pile of spoons, intermittently banging one against the other to see what sort of a noise it would make. She had said earlier that she was “reevaluating her whole collection,” as if there was something that she had missed. Randy was sitting on his bed, working his way through a picture book about the March of the Toys Mitch had picked up for him, in an effort to give him a little practice in the whole “learning to read” thing. Judging by the confused look on his face, it wasn’t going too well.

But he had just plucked a couple of strings on the guitar while tuning and it had resembled a little bit too closely one of the Frostfill songs that he had heard when he was younger. The royal family wasn’t the most festive of families, that was sure, but that didn’t mean that the Oodalolly Clan didn’t have their own sets of traditions that even Daz’ul couldn’t ignore. There were the feasts, which were enjoyed by all, but there were also songs, and gift giving, and…

“What’s up, Raz’ul?” asked Yashee, who had evidently made it through her pile of spoons, which were all sorted on the floor in front of her into distinct piles. A look of concern was accompanied by a soft look. “You look down.”

“It’s nothing, I just…”

“Come on, man, what’s up?” Randy had joined in with Yashee, and before Raz’ul knew it, the two of them were flanking him on his bed, maybe a little closer than he would have immediately liked but was comfortable with anyway.

“I was just… I mean, you know what time of the year it is, right?”

“March of the Toooooys!” said Randy, sing-songing. “And for real this time. It’s not just some other random feast.”

“Yeah,” said Raz’ul. He looked down and his hands fidgeted across Usumptin. “I was just thinking about the holidays and the way we used to celebrate Frostfill—it’s like dwarven March of the Toys, a winter holiday of generosity or whatever—when I was… back at Mount Tain. You know, just some sappy stuff.”

“I’m _all_ about the sappy stuff,” said Yashee, and Raz’ul didn’t need keen insight to tell that she was absolutely true. She had once teared up at the suggestion of a puppy rolling around on its back in a pile of leaves. Randy just looked on eagerly, looking for Raz’ul to continue with his emotion-spilling.

“…fine,” said Raz’ul. He sighed. “We used to do this thing where we would exchange handmade gifts. Just me and my siblings and… and my mom.” He looked anywhere in the room except at his bandmates. “Because we always could get the _stuff_ we needed, and it was more meaningful to exchange the things we put our hearts into.”

He finally looked to the rest of Chaossauce and saw that Randy’s eyes were wide and Yashee’s were watering. “That’s so nice!” she said, clutching her hands suddenly around Raz’ul’s, almost crushing her fingers with her enthusiasm.

“Why don’t you go back for the holidays, then?” asked Randy.

Raz’ul didn’t respond, but in not responding, he gave his answer.

“I won’t push it,” said Randy, and he hopped down from the bed. “But know that even without your family, you have a family with us, you know?”

Raz’ul pulled his hands out of Yashee’s and smiled up to her before looking to Randy and grinning, as well. “Yeah,” he said, shifting to put Usumptin on the bed next to him. “Yeah, of I know I do.”

* * *

It was early the next morning when he heard the jingling of bells he would normally have associated with the celebrations of March of the Toys. He rolled over in bed, figuring that Randy was just getting a little too into the celebration a little too early, just as he had a few months ago when he had claimed it was “basically March of the Toys already” even though it was the middle of the summer.

Then the jingling continued despite the pillow he’d pulled over his head, and he had to actually wake up and face the disturbances his bandmates were no doubts making.

He had readied himself for a large amount of different nonsense, but this was still more than anything he had expected. The room was filled with decorations, which ranged from paper chains to evergreen garlands to lit candles placed in precarious and yet endearing positions throughout the dorm room. To top it off were Yashee and Randy, sitting expectantly on the bed opposite Raz’ul’s, wearing the most horrific looking sweaters Raz’ul had ever seen.

“Wh-what?” asked Raz’ul, still half-asleep and not really sure how to react at all.

“Happy Frostfill!” shouted Randy, throwing his arms up in the air. Yashee blew into a party blower, letting a loud _honk_ into the room.

“D-did you guys put this together last night?”

“Yep,” said Yashee, grinning widely, putting her fists on her hips, and puffing her chest out heroically. “Stayed up all night.”

“Thank gods you’re a heavy sleeper,” said Randy, his grin devilish.

“H-how did you…?”

“Reid helped us out a little bit,” said Yashee. “Told us about the celebration from a book he’d read or something. And from there it was just a matter of making up some extra stuff.”

“Throwing in a little chaos angle,” said Randy. “Our own little _flair_.”

Raz’ul looked at the setup around him and felt a welling in his heart, as he could see nothing but the hard work that his friends had done in order to make him feel better. He smiled the sappiest smile he had ever smiled and jumped out of bed to cross to them and hug them, using his diminutive arms to envelop them both as best as he could and holding there as long as he could before Randy started to squirm away.

“Easy there, tiger,” said Randy. He brushed himself off as if he’d gotten all dusty from the hug and reached to the side of the bed, where he picked up a package wrapped in plain brown paper. He held it out to Raz’ul.

“What’s this?” asked Raz’ul.

“You said that part of the Frostfill celebration, you exchanged gifts that you made to show your appreciation of one another,” said Randy.

“So we made something for you,” said Yashee. “Y’know, because we appreciate you.”

Raz’ul blushed and looked down to the small package, which was wrapped immaculately. As if reading his mind, Randy added, “Splash helped us wrap it.”

“Ah,” said Raz’ul, and he carefully unfolded the edge of the package, pulling out what he found inside.

It was a simple wooden frame, carved with the word “CHAOSSAUCE” across the top part of it. Set into the middle was a hand-drawn picture of a three-piece band. Their band. Raz’ul looked up to the two of them.

“I did the frame,” said Yashee. “I wasn’t the best with the wood burner for the letters, but…”

“And I drew the picture,” said Randy. “And I did an awesome job.”

“Guys…” began Raz’ul, trying not to let the tears come up. “You didn’t need to do this for me—I didn’t even make anything for you!”

“It’s not about us,” said Yashee. “That’s not what this holiday’s about!” She turned to Randy and whispered, “It’s not, is it?” He shook his head.

“Yeah, but…” He looked from his friends and bandmates to the decorations they had done, as if some sort of Frostfill bomb had gone off in his dormitory while he was asleep. It was a ton of hard work, and it was beautiful, and Yashee had been right—he might not be with his family, but he had another family right here, and their attempt at recreating his Frostfill traditions were proof enough that they loved him just as much as any other family he’d had.

Rather than saying all of this, he just smiled, getting out, “you guys!” before pulling them back into a hug again. As his bandmates hugged him back, he knew that was all that he needed to say.


End file.
